Follow The Money: San Jose's 2022 Mayoral And City Council Races

By Tran Nguyen, San Jose Spotlight

February 1, 2022

It’s election season in Silicon Valley, with more than half of the San Jose City Council seats up for grabs in the June primary.

Many major offices are at stake this year. The race to replace Mayor Sam Liccardo, who terms out at the end of the year, is poised to be the most contested and costly contest— the four frontrunner candidates have collectively raised more than $1.4 million within one month of campaigning.

San Jose will also elect representatives for five council seats—Districts 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9—which could potentially shake up the longstanding power split between business interests and labor unions on the City Council.

Jump to a section: Mayor, District 1, District 3, District 5, District 7, District 9, PAC.

Local political action committees will also play a key role this cycle. Liccardo’s PAC, called “Common Good Silicon Valley, supported by Mayor Sam Liccardo,” was formed months ahead of the election and already outraised other political action committees such as the South Bay Labor Council. In the previous election, local PAC spending skyrocketed with special interest groups collectively spending $1.8 million on two City Council races.

Per city rules, individuals must cap contributions at $700 per council candidate and $1,400 for mayoral candidates. But there’s no spending limits for independent expenditures and PACs running political ads in support of or against candidates.

San José Spotlight will be following the money and updating this page routinely with data from the city. The data below is for Dec. 9-31, 2021.

Mayor

At least seven people are competing for the coveted mayoral seat, with Liccardo terming out this year.

Frontrunners include Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez, as well as San Jose Councilmembers Dev Davis, Raul Peralez and Matt Mahan. Former Nevada congressional candidate Jonathan Royce Esteban, former marriage counselor Tyrone Wade, and Brian Smith, a political unknown in East San Jose, have not disclosed their campaign finances.

District 1

Planning Commissioner Justin Lardinois, San Jose Downtown Foundation Board President Ramona Snyder and Santa Clara County Office of Education board member Rosemary Kamei are all gunning for the West San Jose district.

The district’s incumbent, Vice Mayor Chappie Jones, terms out next year.

District 3

Incumbent Councilmember Peralez, who has represented the downtown district for two terms, is running for the mayoral seat. Seven candidates have thrown their hats into the race, but only two have fundraised for their campaigns so far.

District 5

One of the most highly-anticipated and contested council races is the fight for the East San Jose seat in District 5. Councilmember Magdalena Carrasco terms out at the end of this year.

So far, San Jose Planning Commission Rolando Bonilla has emerged as a frontrunner in the crowded race.

District 7

Incumbent Councilmember Maya Esparza is fighting to keep her seat in District 7.

East Side Union High School District board member Van Le appears to be the frontrunner in the race.

District 9

Councilmember Pam Foley, elected into office in 2018, is running unopposed in the District 9 race.

Between Dec. 9-31, Foley raised $49,382 from 109 supporters, including Mayor Liccardo, Assemblyman Evan Low and Councilmember Mahan. Foley has also garnered financial support from residents in Texas, Georgia, Idaho and Oregon.

Political action committees

Several PACs are raising funds to support candidates in this year's election cycle. So far, Common Good Silicon Valley—Liccardo's PAC— has raised the most amount of money, followed by the Silicon Valley Biz PAC.

Contact Tran Nguyen at tran@sanjosespotlight.com or follow @nguyenntrann on Twitter.

Editor's Note: Perla Rodriguez, spouse of District 5 candidate Rolando Bonilla, sits on San José Spotlight's board of directors.

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